A strong advocate for Tyneside industry and social conditions, she lost her seat in the 1945 general election, which Labour won by a landslide.

[1] Ward worked with Charlotte Bentley who led the "National Association of State Enrolled Assistant Nurses".

Her private member's bill passed through parliament to remove the demeaning word "assistant" from the State Enrolled Nurses's job title.

She is remembered for being a fierce character in the House of Commons who was not shy of argument, openly expressing strong disagreements with ministers in her own party when she felt it necessary.

She is remembered in some quarters for an incident which caused amusement on both sides of the House when she threatened to "poke" the then Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson.

Ward was chairwoman of the Committee on woman power investigating both the possibilities and problems of women’s war work between 1940 and 1945.